STAY

Definitions

1. 1. To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support. Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. Ex. xvii. 12. Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found To stay thy vines. Dryden.
2. 2. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time. He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute. Sir W. Scott.
3. 3. To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully. She will not stay the siege of loving terms, Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes. Shak.
4. 4. To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold. Him backward overthrew and down him stayed With their rude hands grisly grapplement. Spenser. All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartly wish were false. Hooker.
5. 5. To hinde Your ships are stayed at Venice. Shak. This business staid me in London almost a week. Evelyn. I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new. Locke.
6. 6. To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. "I stay dinner there." Shak.
7. 7. To cause to cease; to put an end to. Stay your strife. Shak. For flattering planets seemed to say This child should ills of ages stay. Emerson.
8. 8. To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler.
9. 9. To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind. To stay a mast (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and backstays.